Government Spying on us again
Ok, this is really big brother, oppressive, spying, cloak and dagger bs stuff here and it should piss everyone off. At least if you care about freedom and are against your government spying on you.
When you bought your color laser printer from Xerox, HP, or one of the others, did you read anywhere on it that as you print documents, it was going to print hidden code into the document about when and where it was printed and who printed it? Funny, wasn't on my purchase agreement either.
Read this story from the washington post;
Printers output secret barcode
By Mike Musgrove
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it isn't. The pages coming out of your color printer may contain hidden information that could be used to track you down if you ever cross the U.S. government.
Last year, an article in PC World magazine pointed out that printouts from many color laser printers contained yellow dots scattered across the page, viewable only with a special kind of flashlight. The article quoted a senior researcher at Xerox saying that the dots contain information useful to law-enforcement authorities, a secret digital "license tag" for tracking down criminals.
The content of the coded information was supposed to be a secret, available only to agencies looking for counterfeiters who use color printers.
Now, the secret is out.
Yesterday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco consumer-privacy group, said it had cracked the code used in a widely used line of Xerox printers, an invisible barcode of sorts that contains the serial number of the printer as well as the date and time a document was printed.
With the Xerox printers, the information appears as a pattern of yellow dots, each only a millimeter wide and visible only with a magnifying glass and a blue light.
The EFF said it has identified similar coding on pages printed from nearly every major printer manufacturer, including Hewlett-Packard, though its team has so far cracked the codes for only one type of Xerox printer.
The U.S. Secret Service acknowledged yesterday that the markings, which are not visible to the human eye, are there, but it played down the use for invading privacy.
"It's strictly a countermeasure to prevent illegal activity specific to counterfeiting," agency spokesman Eric Zahren said. "It's to protect our currency and to protect people's hard-earned money."
It is unclear whether the yellow-dot codes have been used to make an arrest. And no one would say how long the codes have been in use. But Seth Schoen, the EFF technologist who led the organization's research, said he had seen the coding on documents produced by printers that were at least 10 years old.
"It seems like someone in the government has managed to have a lot of influence in printing technology," he said.
Xerox spokesman Bill McKee confirmed the existence of the hidden codes, but he said the company was simply assisting an agency that asked for help. McKee said the program was part of a cooperation with government agencies, competing manufacturers and a "consortium of banks," but would not provide further details.
HP said in a statement that it is involved in anti-counterfeiting measures and supports the cooperation between the printer industry and those working to reduce counterfeiting.
Schoen said that the existence of the encoded information could be a threat to people who live in repressive governments or those who have a legitimate need for privacy.
"It's disturbing that something on this scale, with so many privacy implications, happened with such a tiny amount of publicity," Schoen said.
If our government can just make clandestine deals with manufacturers that help them spy on us in other ways, they will do so. Makes you wonder what these companies get in return for their cooperation doesn't it. Like with cell phones. They insert a chip so they can locate you within 100 feet at any time at the government's request, but of course it's only to be used if you have an emergency so they can come help you. Anyone who believes that giving the government these tools is ok, you need your head examined. These tools have the potential to be abused by law enforcement and by our government and by the companies they are in bed with. If you think they will not be abused then take the rose colored glasses off granny.
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More things that just piss me off
When you bought your color laser printer from Xerox, HP, or one of the others, did you read anywhere on it that as you print documents, it was going to print hidden code into the document about when and where it was printed and who printed it? Funny, wasn't on my purchase agreement either.
Read this story from the washington post;
Printers output secret barcode
By Mike Musgrove
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it isn't. The pages coming out of your color printer may contain hidden information that could be used to track you down if you ever cross the U.S. government.
Last year, an article in PC World magazine pointed out that printouts from many color laser printers contained yellow dots scattered across the page, viewable only with a special kind of flashlight. The article quoted a senior researcher at Xerox saying that the dots contain information useful to law-enforcement authorities, a secret digital "license tag" for tracking down criminals.
The content of the coded information was supposed to be a secret, available only to agencies looking for counterfeiters who use color printers.
Now, the secret is out.
Yesterday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco consumer-privacy group, said it had cracked the code used in a widely used line of Xerox printers, an invisible barcode of sorts that contains the serial number of the printer as well as the date and time a document was printed.
With the Xerox printers, the information appears as a pattern of yellow dots, each only a millimeter wide and visible only with a magnifying glass and a blue light.
The EFF said it has identified similar coding on pages printed from nearly every major printer manufacturer, including Hewlett-Packard, though its team has so far cracked the codes for only one type of Xerox printer.
The U.S. Secret Service acknowledged yesterday that the markings, which are not visible to the human eye, are there, but it played down the use for invading privacy.
"It's strictly a countermeasure to prevent illegal activity specific to counterfeiting," agency spokesman Eric Zahren said. "It's to protect our currency and to protect people's hard-earned money."
It is unclear whether the yellow-dot codes have been used to make an arrest. And no one would say how long the codes have been in use. But Seth Schoen, the EFF technologist who led the organization's research, said he had seen the coding on documents produced by printers that were at least 10 years old.
"It seems like someone in the government has managed to have a lot of influence in printing technology," he said.
Xerox spokesman Bill McKee confirmed the existence of the hidden codes, but he said the company was simply assisting an agency that asked for help. McKee said the program was part of a cooperation with government agencies, competing manufacturers and a "consortium of banks," but would not provide further details.
HP said in a statement that it is involved in anti-counterfeiting measures and supports the cooperation between the printer industry and those working to reduce counterfeiting.
Schoen said that the existence of the encoded information could be a threat to people who live in repressive governments or those who have a legitimate need for privacy.
"It's disturbing that something on this scale, with so many privacy implications, happened with such a tiny amount of publicity," Schoen said.
If our government can just make clandestine deals with manufacturers that help them spy on us in other ways, they will do so. Makes you wonder what these companies get in return for their cooperation doesn't it. Like with cell phones. They insert a chip so they can locate you within 100 feet at any time at the government's request, but of course it's only to be used if you have an emergency so they can come help you. Anyone who believes that giving the government these tools is ok, you need your head examined. These tools have the potential to be abused by law enforcement and by our government and by the companies they are in bed with. If you think they will not be abused then take the rose colored glasses off granny.
Comment in our Forum!
More things that just piss me off
posted by NameCritic at 6:03 PM
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